


Name Me

by Amlika



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Fantasy, His Dark Materials - Freeform, Is blasphemy a tag, M/M, Magic, Physical injury of main character, The beginning is the end., The end is the beginning., young taekook
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-26
Updated: 2020-09-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:35:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25617460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amlika/pseuds/Amlika
Summary: "I have summoned you by name; now you are mine.”Jungkook learns of his special ability, and Taehyung is by his side, no matter what.
Relationships: Jeon Jungkook/Kim Taehyung | V
Comments: 9
Kudos: 28





	Name Me

When death is upon Taehyung like the shadow of the valley, strangely, he feels no fear, for Jungkook is by his side. 

His body shivers, and when he looks down, there’s a large gash on his abdomen, with scarlet and crimson oozing out, making such a mess on the gravelled ground. The pain was crippling at first, but now his skin has gone cold, and his mind is in a haze, numbing the pain, making it a distant afterthought. His limbs are so unfathomably heavy, dragging him down down into the earth. Into the cold and silent. 

But there’s only tranquility in his heart, a strange sense of clarity, as if he has perfect control of the trajectory of his life. Strong arms embrace him from behind, imbuing him with warmth as life seeps away. 

“It’ll be fine, none of this matters. I won’t allow it.” Jungkook’s gravelled voice is matter-of-factly, the golden armor draping over his broad shoulders glimmering in the sun. Taehyung squints and feels his heart surge with fondness. 

A growl behind them echoes Jungkook’s words, it’s Jungkook’s daemon tiger Gukkie. Matching golden armor, hand hammered to fit the contour of his massive body. Taehyung’s own daemon V, the diminutive bunny that’s usually bouncing around with endless energy, is on top of the tiger, grasping on with the last thread of strength, fuzzy long ears drooping down her tiny head. 

Taehyung meets the bloodshot eyes of the bunny, and nods wearily, feeling their thoughts sync: _never surrender. To the last breath._

The ground rumbles, and the air vibrates with distant clamor. They’re coming, the injury was but a warning. Thousands of soldiers armed to the teeth, charging towards them like a bone shattering tidal wave.

“We’re more than this, love, more than death and all this… distraction. You’re mine, when I call for you, remember?” Jungkook whispers. There’s a faint blood splatter on his stern profile, Taehyung nods and wonders absently if it’s from his gash, wants to reach up and wipe it off one last time. But his arm trembles pathetically, heart thrums against his chest like a frantic bird flapping against metal bars. 

Jungkook winces, eyes fixated on Taehyung’s wound. Taehyung wants to tell him to stop worrying, that they only have a moment left and he’d rather just dwell in the serenity and warmth, but the words come out as ragged breaths instead. 

Jungkook’s eyes darken. He straightens his torso and begins to chant, voice low but resolute. Ancient words, some Taehyung recognize, after having heard them practiced and perfected over the years, like old friends that bring comfort by the mere mention. 

Jungkook lifts his hand, and draws firm lines and curves in the air with authority. Taehyung remembers the way he explained the whole ritual:

_They are friends, yes, but called to obey commands. Submission needs to be absolute._

The air surrounding them begins to vibrate and thicken. Taehyung gulps at the familiar pressure, as particles begin to swirl from the ground. Sand, moisture, air, all the natural elements that were unassuming and harmless a moment ago, colliding and spinning until shadows begin to emerge amidst the chaos. Looming, imposing, rising into the darkening sky to block the sun. 

He wipes off the sand and gravel that are stinging his eyes and scraping his face. And when his vision refocuses, they have already arrived. 

Monstrous and tall, he has to extend his neck and tilt his head up just to see the four phantoms towering over him. And still, he can’t truly see them. The outlines are always blurring, as if his eyes can no longer focus, and the details are wiped from his mind with every blink, as if he’s not meant to remember. Horns dripping with goo, cavernous mouths, eyes that glitch and flicker erratically, like out of a child’s nightmare. 

“הגולם, דיבוק, מַזִּיקִין, נַעֲמָה, מציית” 

The phantoms turn towards Jungkook, and one by one, they bow down and submit. 

Jungkook draws a circle with his hand, 

“לְהַגֵן”

The phantoms grunt, and begin to move into positions around them. Tiger Gukkie huffs to the phantom next to him, and they tilt their heads slightly towards each other before forming a defensive line together. Bunny V is no longer moving on Gukkie’s back, and Taehyung can feel the flutter of his tiny pulse, faint and so close to ceasing to be. 

Dust shrouds Jungkook’s outline in a golden filigree. Their eyes lock, and Jungkook smiles, the weathered crinkles at the corners of his eyes deepen, as he utters the final words, resolute and unflinching, 

“Taehyung.” 

At the command, Taehyung’s mind is wiped clean. The world fades away, and all that’s left is Jungkook, one arm raised solemnly, skin covered in old scabs and fresh wounds - a celestial image that holds life and death between words. Taehyung looks up reverently, worshiping. Jungkook’s hand flutters in one swift movement, parched lips part to utter the spell Taehyung’s been waiting to hear, 

“מאפר לאפר, מעפר לעפר, Taehyung.” *

  
  


∞

  
  


Taehyung jolts awake in a cacophony of crickets chirping. He wipes the sweat soaked bangs off his forehead, and pushes himself up from the grassfield.

He rubs his eyes, and tries hard to grasp onto the tendrils of the dream, but it’s already gone, saved for the piercing heartache, and the feeling that he’s forgotten something very important. 

Taehyung sits there for a moment, dazed. Under the lush canopy of an old cherry tree, the air is humid and sticky. His St. Andrew’s school uniform is disheveled, and would probably draw scolding from the teachers if they spot him. 

Taehyung straightens his shirt, muddle mind easing a little at the sight of bunny V snoring next to tiger Gukkie, who’s licking his shiny golden fur languidly. 

No blood, no suffocating doom, it was all probably just a dream. Or whatever that was.

A figure is huddled in front of him, next to a small puddle of water in the grass. Taehyung touches the damp blades of grass underneath him, remembering the thunder storm in the morning.

Narrow frame, pale arms, the familiar silhouette grounds and comforts him.

Taehyung gets up to walk towards the figure, eyes widening when he notices something moving on the ground. At first he thinks it’s a massive mud-splattered snail, crawling towards the puddle at a glacial speed.

But as he steps closer and pauses next to the huddled figure, he realizes that it’s a blob of mud, with what look like crudely made legs underneath it. And the legs are inching along, one after the other, painstakingly dragging the blob of mud in a straight direction.

“רְאֵם.” 

The mud blob pauses at the word. Taehyung gapes and rubs his eyes again, “What-“ 

Jungkook hums thoughtfully, keeping his focus on the blob. He tries a different word, 

“שֵׁדִים.” 

The blob responds to the word, and the stubby legs march on, but the movement is now wobbly and unbalanced, threatening to topple over with each step. 

“What is this? Is there - is there a worm inside that thing?” Taehyung asks shakily, knowing fully well his offered explanation doesn’t even remotely justify what he’s seeing.

A frustrated click of the tongue, “It’s not working.”

“What’s not working?” 

“The names.” Jungkook sighs, and stands up with knitted brows, “I tried the ones I thought might work, but you saw it, the movements are all wrong.” 

“You’re speaking mid-thought again. Start from the begi - oh my word, Jungkook, Jungkook make it stop.” Taehyung points to the mud blob, which has by now stepped into the puddle. The legs are starting to lose shape in the water, and the body twitches in different directions, trying in vain to counter the resulting imbalance. 

Taehyung still doesn’t quite know what he’s looking at, but his chest tightens - it’s as if he’s witnessing a creature being forced to drown. 

"תפסיק."

Jungkook commands, but the creature continues to shake.

"תפסיק."

Still not working. Taehyung winces when he spots a crack growing on the creature’s body.

“גולם, עצור”

The creature freezes in motion, as runny mud continues to drip from its tilted torso. 

“Oh!” Jungkook exclaims, doe eyes lighting up, “So it prefers Golem.”

Taehyung pulls on his arm, “Jungkook. Please. From the beginning. What is this? What are you doing?”

“Well, it’s really quite simple, you saw how none of the other names could command him.”

“Jungkook!”

A shy smirk, Taehyung resists the urge to pinch his cute little cheeks. 

“Do you remember that book I told you about, Tae? The one that was from the locked section in the back of the library?”

“The one you snuck out and I told you to sneak back before getting expelled? Yes, I remember, that was more than three months ago.” Taehyung glares at him.

“I couldn’t return it because I’m not done yet.” Jungkook responds, “My Hebrew is rusty, turns out they don’t work as properly unless the pronunciation is perfect.”

“What’s ‘they’?”

Jungkook waves his hand superfluously, “Spells, I guess. Incantations.”

Taehyung draws a sharp breath, “But that can’t be. Spells are for witches. And the professors would never keep such a thing at our school, you know how they hate even the mention of witches.”

“Well, apparently they don’t hate spells, just don’t want to share them with us. Hypocrites. My parents said there might be a war soon, why can’t the profs just-”

“I can’t believe this.” Taehyung cuts him off and shakes his head, “You’re every teacher’s favorite here. I’ve honestly never seen you like this before. What’s gotten into you? Why are you doing all this - this witchcraft behind my back, behind everyone’s back?”

“It’s not witchcraft. I wouldn’t be able to do it if it’s witchcraft.” Jungkook grumbles. His shoulders are square, and lips pursed. “And I have to do something. The world is all wrong out there - kids keep getting kidnapped, people no longer trusting the Magisterium - and the professors would rather lie than to prépare us. I have to do something, anything - “ he’s huffing now, not used to speaking so fast and so passionately, “- to protect us.”

Taehyung is at a loss for words. He inches closer and touches Jungkook’s shirt sleeve gingerly, and speaks after a pause, “You should’ve told me. I had no idea… Don’t be so worried, please. I’ve never seen you like this. It’s fine, it’s all just - temporary, I’m sure, it’ll all get sorted out.” He nudges his arm against Jungkook’s, “I’m the older one, remember? Don’t worry.”

Something lingers on the back of Taehyung’s mind, something bloody and foreboding, casting a shadow on his thoughts. 

Jungkook’s jaw is still clenched, stubbornly. He shrugs off Taehyung’s hand, but gestures at the puddle again, “C’mon, let me just show you the whole thing. Took me a long time to figure out.”

Taehyung exhales slowly, but relents and squats down. 

The figure in the puddle has been reduced to a jumbled pile of watery mud, the whole tilted body has cracked open like a gaping mouth, and melted into the legs. Jungkook grabs another chunk of mud from the edge of the puddle. He then breaks it into pieces, and starts to roll and mold each piece, quickly forming another figure. This time, he adds two limbs to the crude torso, tightening the connections onto the body by squeezing with his hands and smoothing out any crack with his fingers. Then, he looks at Taehyung thoughtfully before marking two dots on the creation’s head, as well as a short curve underneath.

A face, an eerily smiling face. 

Jungkook’s expression turns solemn, as he closes his eyes with the creation in his palm. He utters the next sentence with concentration, speaking each word slowly and carefully, 

“מאפר לאפר, מעפר לעפר." *

Silence. Taehyung holds his breath, and nothing happens, “Is it done?”

Jungkook shakes his head and places the creation down carefully at the edge of the puddle, “I think the spell is only the start. Next, it needs to find itself, that’s why the name becomes important.”

The new creature is still frozen, just a pile of barely jointed mud chunks. But Taehyung blinks a few times, and notices the small round head tremble slightly. He suppresses an audible gasp, “So you just say the words, that’s it?”

“I don’t know how to explain it.” Jungkook stares at the creature as its limbs now begin to tremble, “Ever since I read the spell, I could feel it. Like it spoke to me. And when I read it out loud, when I hold the thing I want to activate, I try to do the same, to pass on that feeling of connection. It’s sort of like how I connect to Gukkie.”

“Really? Wow, like connecting to your daemon…” Taehyung doesn’t know how to process that. It sounds almost too intimate, daemons are their souls after all. But this is just a lump of wet mud, how could it possibly feel the same.

“I think - I think maybe it has something to do with Dust.” Jungkook murmurs, avoid eye contact.

Taehyung feels shivers climbing up his spine at the words, “Dust...”

The essence of consciousness, of which binds them all. The thought overwhelms Taehyung, to control Dust, is to be able to command life and death. 

"I think these names may belong to daemons from ancient times. I can feel them now, more and more everyday. Waiting, wanting to exist again even though their physical forms are long gone." Jungkook mutters, seemingly to himself. 

Down on the ground, the mud creature is shifting left and right to move its legs. Taehyung gets the strange sensation that it’s looking at Jungkook, waiting for the ritual to continue, even though all it has are the two hastily marked dots for eyes. 

“I don’t think Dust is something that a normal person can play with, especially someone so - so…”

“So young? Is that what you want to say?” Jungkook’s expression turns somber, “I’m not a kid anymore, Tae. I know what I can do, what I want.” A hand wave, 

“גולם, זוז.”

The creature snaps to it this time, legs moving along one after another, movement as smooth as a mud figure can possibly achieve. The name Jungkook figured out with the previous experiment is indeed the right one. But there’s no joy in Jungkook’s voice, as he continues to retort back, all the buried words suddenly gushing out, “All these years, you’ve taken care of me, watched over me because I was younger, sucked at talking to people. Well, it’s time I do my part. I want to protect you from whatever is coming, need to. Want us to always be together…”

Taehyung feels a lump lodged in his throat, and loops an arm around Jungkook’s stiff shoulders in a half hug, “What happened? Was someone mean to you in class today? You’re over thinking things again.”

“Don’t.” Jungkook pushes his arm off, eyes lasering onto the creature that’s now marched into the remnant of the previous blob and struggling. With a scowl, he lifts his hand and utters, “I will show you, I’ll be stronger,

"גולם, התקפה."

The creature twitches at the command, it raises its arms and starts to smash clumsily into the existing blob, splattering the water in the puddle. And when that seems to be ineffective at removing the blob, it starts using all its parts - torso, head, the very legs it relies on to stand - throwing all of itself at the blob recklessly. 

Taehyung gasps in horror as the seam between one of the arms and the torso begins to crack and rip open, “What did you say to it?”

“Attack. I just - it senses how I feel, just like Gukkie always can.” 

Taehyung looks back and spots tiger Gukkie eyeing the mud creature intently with hackled hair on its back, and bunny V is awake now, leaning into Gukkie and quietly whining. Taehyung can feel her fearful thought:

_Stop._

Taehyung grabs Jungkook by the corner of his shirt, “That’s enough, please. You’re scaring Gukkie and V.”

Jungkook furrows his brows, but relents with a huff, 

“תפסיק”

The creature freezes again, one arm has already fallen off and half stuck onto the other blob, making Taehyung wince and look away. 

He tries again, leaning into Jungkook and whispers, “You don’t have to show me anything, don’t need to get stronger. You’re already perfect. I’m not sure about this thing…” He eyes the mud piles hesitantly, but after pausing for a beat, makes up his mind, “I’m not sure what this is at all, but what you just did there, I’ve never seen anyone else do. Not a professor, not mentioned in books or anywhere. So maybe there’s something unique about you? Maybe it is a gift, somehow?” 

Jungkook’s features soften at the words. 

“And I’ll always stick with you. You know that, right? Doesn’t matter if you’re doing some wild stuff with Dust, or just being your normal you.” He dips down and nudges their foreheads together lightly, “You can’t get rid of me that easily.”

Jungkook is silent, but a tiny smile blooms on his face. 

Taehyung thinks for a moment, then adds, “How about this, Jeon Jungkook, I promise that no matter where I am, or how I feel, if you ever call my name, I’ll be there. I’ll find my way back to you one way or another, deal?”

“Deal. Never letting you go. Mine.” Jungkook’s voice is whisper quiet, but Taehyung hears every word. He raises his hand gently to graze by Taehyung’s face, as he speaks, carefully, as if it’s the most important word he’s ever known, “Taehyung”. 

His voice, innocent and trusting, wipes Taehyung’s mind clean. All the noises in his world recedes, and only Jungkook remains, glowing like a false god that has stolen his heart since the first day they met, demanding for his absolute love and submission. Taehyung stands frozen in place, waiting reverently for what's yet to come. 

Jungkook speaks slowly, pronouncing each word with intention, 

"Taehyung, קראתי לך בשם, אתה שלי." **

∞

**Author's Note:**

> * “Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.” From the book of common prayers. In Hebrew.  
> ** “I have summoned you by name; now you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1. In Hebrew.
> 
> To be honest, I don’t know what happens to Taehyung in the end? Maybe he becomes a phantom? Rest assured he sticks by Jungkook’s side. A promise is a promise :)


End file.
